Herman Kountze

Herman Kountze was a powerful and influential pioneer banker in Omaha, Nebraska, during the late 19th century. After organizing the Kountze Brothers Bank in 1857 as the second bank in Omaha, Herman and his brothers Augustus, Charles and Luther changed the charter in 1863, opening the First National Bank of Omaha that year. Kountze was involved in a number of influential ventures around Omaha, including the development of the Omaha Stockyards and the TransMississippi and International Exposition of 1898. Immediately after his death Kountze was regarded as one of Omahas old settlers. Today Kountzes First National Bank is the oldest bank west of the Mississippi River, and continues as a privately held company in its sixth generation of family ownership.

Herman Kountze was born August 21, 1833, in Osnaburg, Ohio, one of twelve children born to Christian and Margaret Kountze. After leaving his fathers mercantile business at the age of 26, Kountze moved to join his brother Augustus, who was a real estate agent in the new Omaha City, located on the eastern edge of the Nebraska Territory. Immediately the brothers organized the Kountze Brothers Bank and bought a large amount of land in the river towns along the Missouri River in Nebraska, with holdings in Brownville, Nebraska City, Tekamah, and Dakota City, and in Sioux City, Iowa. Eventually they invested throughout Nebraska, across Iowa, Minnesota, and the forests and grazing lands of east Texas, as well as in Chicago and Denver. In 1864, Kountze married Elizabeth Davis, the daughter of Thomas Davis, a founding pioneer of Omaha. In 1899, after his first wife died, he was married for a second time to Clara Sara Whitney Cotton.

Source: Wikipedia